YouTube is the second most trafficked website in the world, beaten only by Google, so the potential to reach candidates is unprecedented. The Office for National Statistics found that over half a million 11-15 year olds (15%) are searching for careers information on YouTube. It seems that with the unwavering upsurge in digital content, more traditional resources have become less popular with a 12% decrease in young people seeking information from careers advisers and teachers. Employers who don’t capitalise on this trend therefore risk missing out on top talent.
What makes YouTube such an important platform for recruitment?
· Video is highly shareable – 92% of mobile video consumers share videos with others
· Video is memorable – 80% of users recall a video ad they viewed in the past 30 days
· YouTube’s global reach is huge – YouTube has over a billion users – almost one third of all people on the internet, and every day people watch hundreds of millions of hours
· Mobile is fuelling video consumption – on mobile, the average viewing session is now more than 40 minutes and more than half of YouTube views come from mobile devices
How to utilise YouTube for recruitment:
Show off your company culture – accurately portray your company culture to attract relevant and like-minded candidates. One of the biggest challenges employers face is getting across their core values and working environment. A good way of combatting this is by having video content that represents the company, so candidates are able to decide for themselves whether they’re a good fit or not.
Involve your employees – personalise your videos by involving existing employees, such as employee testimonials about why they chose to work for the company, why they enjoy it, and exciting projects that they get to work on. Not only will this make your content more authentic, but potential candidates will be able to identify more with people who actually work at the company. They will also be able to better visualise themselves at the company when they can see and engage with people they might get to work with.
Showcase your company as an industry leader – show candidates how innovative your company is, rather than telling them. By displaying engaging content in this way, it will give you an edge over your competitors and show off your company’s career opportunities.
Define what qualities you are looking for in candidates – video content should be attracting relevant candidates and filtering out those who aren’t a good overall fit for your company. Therefore, specify exactly what it is that you’re looking for in a candidate to ensure that you are definitely appealing to the right kind of individuals.
Include company information – incorporate information into video content about how candidates can apply to work at the company, with the assumption that the video will be embedded elsewhere. You can then link to your YouTube videos on your company website, and cross-promote across your social media channels.
Take advantage of the latest technology – immersive video and virtual reality are set to be huge players in the recruitment game, so make sure you exploit this highly pioneering technology to draw in as many prospective candidates as possible. Not only will you be majorly impressing your target audience, you’ll be engaging them too – in a study conducted by Magnifyre, 360 videos elicited 28.81% more views than regular videos, and double the viewers watched the video to 100% completion.
How do we justify diverting other recruitment resources to YouTube?
YouTube’s role in attracting candidates should not be underestimated – brands who aren’t currently using online video as part of their recruitment strategy should re-think their approach. The days of traditional recruitment methods are long gone. Employers need to be looking for innovative ways to capture candidates and keep up in an increasingly digital world.